One Reason Cheniere Energy (LNG) Stock Is Up Today

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Cheniere Energy (LNG) were gaining 57.2% to $70.16 after the oil and gas company announced a new long-term sales agreement with EDP Energias de Portugal.

EDP agreed to buy 770,000 tons of liquefied natural gas once a year from Cheniere Energy after the company starts operating the third train at its export facility located near Corpus Christi, TX. Cheniere plans to begin deliveries with the third train in 2019.

The agreement will last for 20 years after the first commercial delivery of the third train of the Corpus Christi Liquefaction Project, and has an extension option of up to 10 years.

TheStreet Ratings team rates CHENIERE ENERGY INC as a Sell with a ratings score of D+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate CHENIERE ENERGY INC (LNG) a SELL. This is driven by a number of negative factors, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. Among the areas we feel are negative, one of the most important has been weak operating cash flow."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

Net operating cash flow has significantly decreased to -$29.71 million or 6358.47% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing to the industry average, the firm's growth rate is much lower.

Regardless of the drop in revenue, the company managed to outperform against the industry average of 6.3%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 1.3%. The declining revenue has not hurt the company's bottom line, with increasing earnings per share.

CHENIERE ENERGY INC has improved earnings per share by 13.0% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, CHENIERE ENERGY INC reported poor results of -$2.32 versus -$1.82 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings (-$1.84 versus -$2.32).

The gross profit margin for CHENIERE ENERGY INC is rather high; currently it is at 60.82%. It has increased from the same quarter the previous year. Regardless of the strong results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of -134.08% is in-line with the industry average.

The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry average. The net income increased by 11.2% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, going from -$100.82 million to -$89.58 million.